We continue to have some funny moments caused by language. After Fran’s triumph with getting our WiFi connection working, she has caused some mirth at one of the local hairdressers. We had noticed that hairdressers, together with boulangeries, are amongst the most common forms of business here. Puy l’Eveque has at least 4 hairdressers and we counted 5 when we visited Prayssac a couple of days ago. So the range is plentiful but making a selection is a bit of a lucky-dip. Fran usually prepares when she knows she will need to cover certain topics in her conversation. So she looked up the word for layer in the dictionary, which she found was couche, as she wanted her hair cut in layers. However, it appears that to the French the most common meaning is nappies. The hairdresser, his assistant and another customer thought it was very funny that she wanted a haircut with nappies - Would you like nappies with that? Fran has now decided that she will check the French-English translation after looking up a word in the English-French section of the dictionary to avoid further indiscretion. She thinks the word should have been grade or gradue.
We are starting to recognise, and be recognised, by people in the village. We know David, the Kiwi who worked in London for about 10 years before coming here 3 years ago with his wife,
Rosie and 4 kids to open a restaurant. We went to his restaurant on our first night in Puy l’Eveque, which happened to be a public holiday when most places were closed. It is directly opposite us across the river. Then we ran into him again at the Soiree put on by a school run for kids on Wednesdays called The Clap (Most schools are closed on Wednesdays). He attended because he is thinking of sending his kids there next year. He told us that we were very public spirited to attend the show.
We also wave and say bonjour to the man at Le Salon Gourmand whenever we walk up Grand Rue. He and his wife were originally from this area but he spent about 9 years in the Navy before leaving to open up his new shop. We are surprised that he chose this village as there doesn’t seem to be sufficient population, nor enough tourists, to support his business. In fact, we feel guilty when we don’t stop and have a the, café or glace, because he looks a bit lonely waiting all day for the few customers he gets each day. Perhaps business will pick up in July and August.
We have a man who spends a lot of time outside our house fishing. He seems to be always there but doesn’t have much success, even though he usually has 2 or 3 rods going at the same time. In the 2 weeks we’ve been here, we’ve seen him catch only 1 fish, apart from the tiddlers he catches to use as live bait. It seems that he has a series of regular visitors who stop off for a smoke and a chat before hopping back into their vans or cars to continue their day. We suspect that catching fish is not his prime concern - it’s more about socialising , which he wouldn’t do if he stayed at home.
And across the little stream that runs into the river beside the boat ramp near our house, we have a chambre d’hote, run by Anne and Bill, an English couple. We haven’t met Bill yet, but Anne seems quite nice, if somewhat reserved. She owns a bitsa dog called Smara who, like many of the dogs around here, seems to do as she pleases. Anne has provided us with lots of information about the village and its inhabitants, including the low-down on another couple whom we have seen strolling about the village in the mornings and evenings with their 2 Basset hounds. They are Danish and he is a doctor - they used to make the 20 hour drive from Denmark quite frequently by car and with the dogs (an unpleasant thought!), but now they live here permanently. They have a very nice house and garden and are putting in a new swimming pool.
Puy l’Eveque is a cite fleurie, which seems to indicate that the Mayor (i.e. the local government) makes an effort to make the town look good by having lots of gardens, planter boxes and flower pots filled with begonias, petunias, geraniums, verbenas and other colourful plants. Every couple of days we see 2 men in a truck driving around watering all the plants - we call them Bill and Ben. We have a couple of planter boxes on the Cale outside our house and another couple of boxes affixed to our wall. Fran was surprised one morning to look out the bedroom window, which is on the first floor, and come almost face to face with a man using a wand to water one of our planter boxes. Of course, she said Bonjour!
On previous visits to Europe we have noticed the swallows that seem to fill the air at various times of the day. In other parts we have seen them in flocks, zooming around and around, apparently doing circuits. Here, they fly around at great speed above the river in front of our
house, but in groups of 2 or 3 rather than in flocks. Adrian had remarked that it’s a wonder they don’t have collisions. Well, it seems that they do have collisions because we saw two dead ones floating down the river a couple of days ago and it seemed the only explanation was that they had run into each other in mid-air and fallen into the river. We also saw a pigeon who was unable to fly, floating in the river - just like a duck. As he approached the boat ramp he flapped his wings and propelled himself towards it. Later, we saw him waddle up the ramp and up our little street, where he disappeared into the vacant garden next door. We have strange neighbours.
There seems to be plenty to keep us occupied in this little rural community. Fran saw in the local paper that L’harmonie de Puy l’Eveque were performing in a church in the tiny village of St Vinvent Rives d’Olt to raise money to help restore their church. Thinking that it sounded like a choral group she thought it might be an opportunity to meet and, possibly join, a local group. It turned out that they were an orchestral group, comprising mainly wind instruments. They played an eclectic mix of numbers ranging from classical pieces by Bizet and Offenbach to the overture from My Fair Lady and a Santana big-band arrangement. They were all quite difficult pieces performed quite well and the concert was most enjoyable. Fran didn’t let an opportunity pass without practising her French - in fact no Frenchman or woman is safe if the happen to sit beside her. The lady was delightful, running a B & B nearby and informed us that she had recently had some Australians staying who were on the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage.
On another excursion we visited a small village called Frassinet-le-Gelat which will strike a chord with any Mary Moody fans reading our blog. She fell in love with this region several years ago
providing her with enough information to write a series of books based on village life in the Lot. It is in this village that she owns a home. So after checking with a lady leading over the railings outside the Mairie (who may well have been the Mayor enjoying an easy day) to confirm that the house opposite was indeed the home of the Australian author, Fran took this photo.
Saturday night here was really hopping. It was billed as La Fete de la Musique which basically meant that there were a number of musical groups performing al fresco throughout the village. It was advertised as running from 6:30 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. It seems this is a traditional thing and is held in all French towns in June, somewhere near the summer solstice. In Puy l’Eveque, which is only a small village there were at least 9 separate groups performing at various locations throughout the village. One of the locations was on the Cale, just near our bedroom window. The band was called Dusty Bottoms and played modern-style French numbers. Other groups played in different styles including latin-american, punk rock, modern jazz and Mississippi blues. We didn’t quite last the distance, hitting the sack at 1 a.m., but the atmosphere was great and everyone had fun.
Au revoir
We are starting to recognise, and be recognised, by people in the village. We know David, the Kiwi who worked in London for about 10 years before coming here 3 years ago with his wife,
Rosie and 4 kids to open a restaurant. We went to his restaurant on our first night in Puy l’Eveque, which happened to be a public holiday when most places were closed. It is directly opposite us across the river. Then we ran into him again at the Soiree put on by a school run for kids on Wednesdays called The Clap (Most schools are closed on Wednesdays). He attended because he is thinking of sending his kids there next year. He told us that we were very public spirited to attend the show. We also wave and say bonjour to the man at Le Salon Gourmand whenever we walk up Grand Rue. He and his wife were originally from this area but he spent about 9 years in the Navy before leaving to open up his new shop. We are surprised that he chose this village as there doesn’t seem to be sufficient population, nor enough tourists, to support his business. In fact, we feel guilty when we don’t stop and have a the, café or glace, because he looks a bit lonely waiting all day for the few customers he gets each day. Perhaps business will pick up in July and August.
We have a man who spends a lot of time outside our house fishing. He seems to be always there but doesn’t have much success, even though he usually has 2 or 3 rods going at the same time. In the 2 weeks we’ve been here, we’ve seen him catch only 1 fish, apart from the tiddlers he catches to use as live bait. It seems that he has a series of regular visitors who stop off for a smoke and a chat before hopping back into their vans or cars to continue their day. We suspect that catching fish is not his prime concern - it’s more about socialising , which he wouldn’t do if he stayed at home.
And across the little stream that runs into the river beside the boat ramp near our house, we have a chambre d’hote, run by Anne and Bill, an English couple. We haven’t met Bill yet, but Anne seems quite nice, if somewhat reserved. She owns a bitsa dog called Smara who, like many of the dogs around here, seems to do as she pleases. Anne has provided us with lots of information about the village and its inhabitants, including the low-down on another couple whom we have seen strolling about the village in the mornings and evenings with their 2 Basset hounds. They are Danish and he is a doctor - they used to make the 20 hour drive from Denmark quite frequently by car and with the dogs (an unpleasant thought!), but now they live here permanently. They have a very nice house and garden and are putting in a new swimming pool.
Puy l’Eveque is a cite fleurie, which seems to indicate that the Mayor (i.e. the local government) makes an effort to make the town look good by having lots of gardens, planter boxes and flower pots filled with begonias, petunias, geraniums, verbenas and other colourful plants. Every couple of days we see 2 men in a truck driving around watering all the plants - we call them Bill and Ben. We have a couple of planter boxes on the Cale outside our house and another couple of boxes affixed to our wall. Fran was surprised one morning to look out the bedroom window, which is on the first floor, and come almost face to face with a man using a wand to water one of our planter boxes. Of course, she said Bonjour!
On previous visits to Europe we have noticed the swallows that seem to fill the air at various times of the day. In other parts we have seen them in flocks, zooming around and around, apparently doing circuits. Here, they fly around at great speed above the river in front of our
house, but in groups of 2 or 3 rather than in flocks. Adrian had remarked that it’s a wonder they don’t have collisions. Well, it seems that they do have collisions because we saw two dead ones floating down the river a couple of days ago and it seemed the only explanation was that they had run into each other in mid-air and fallen into the river. We also saw a pigeon who was unable to fly, floating in the river - just like a duck. As he approached the boat ramp he flapped his wings and propelled himself towards it. Later, we saw him waddle up the ramp and up our little street, where he disappeared into the vacant garden next door. We have strange neighbours.There seems to be plenty to keep us occupied in this little rural community. Fran saw in the local paper that L’harmonie de Puy l’Eveque were performing in a church in the tiny village of St Vinvent Rives d’Olt to raise money to help restore their church. Thinking that it sounded like a choral group she thought it might be an opportunity to meet and, possibly join, a local group. It turned out that they were an orchestral group, comprising mainly wind instruments. They played an eclectic mix of numbers ranging from classical pieces by Bizet and Offenbach to the overture from My Fair Lady and a Santana big-band arrangement. They were all quite difficult pieces performed quite well and the concert was most enjoyable. Fran didn’t let an opportunity pass without practising her French - in fact no Frenchman or woman is safe if the happen to sit beside her. The lady was delightful, running a B & B nearby and informed us that she had recently had some Australians staying who were on the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage.
On another excursion we visited a small village called Frassinet-le-Gelat which will strike a chord with any Mary Moody fans reading our blog. She fell in love with this region several years ago
providing her with enough information to write a series of books based on village life in the Lot. It is in this village that she owns a home. So after checking with a lady leading over the railings outside the Mairie (who may well have been the Mayor enjoying an easy day) to confirm that the house opposite was indeed the home of the Australian author, Fran took this photo.
Saturday night here was really hopping. It was billed as La Fete de la Musique which basically meant that there were a number of musical groups performing al fresco throughout the village. It was advertised as running from 6:30 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. It seems this is a traditional thing and is held in all French towns in June, somewhere near the summer solstice. In Puy l’Eveque, which is only a small village there were at least 9 separate groups performing at various locations throughout the village. One of the locations was on the Cale, just near our bedroom window. The band was called Dusty Bottoms and played modern-style French numbers. Other groups played in different styles including latin-american, punk rock, modern jazz and Mississippi blues. We didn’t quite last the distance, hitting the sack at 1 a.m., but the atmosphere was great and everyone had fun.Au revoir
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